Re: Whistlepig CEO is whiskey idiot and proves it

hahahhahahahaaaaaa "Value Purchases...." good one. He surely isn't that dumb to not be aware what other products are out there? One thing to give CEO-type "we think we're great" responses, another to either flat like or be a moron.

Second favorite quote of the video... "Like Ethan Allen the furniture company?"...poor reporter.

Re: Whistlepig CEO is whiskey idiot and proves it

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/whistlepig-whisky-ceo-what-i-got-from-donald-trump-1QJTcwVrSRGRibswOGYdLw.html - watch this video to waste 4 minutes of your life. You will learn:

-there are no ryes above 7 years (or 8 or 9 or 10) old on market (VWFFR immediately comes to mind)
-american whiskies traditionally do not have age statements

I also just noticed Whistlepig bottles states "Finished in Bourbon Barrels" - does this mean they transfer product to used bourbon barrel? If not, would it not be aged in rye barrels?

He is parsing words of course but aren't there very few "American made" age stated rye whiskies that are readily available? Of course that includes Whistlepig! It is not American, but Canadian of course.

VWFRR is rare and hard to find. Pretty much the same for Saz 18. Most of what is sold here by an "American" company that is older age stated rye is Canadian sourced. Michter 10yo is from an unknown source. It may be American whiskey but it may not. The high end aged ryes like Rittenhouse, Willet or Hirsch are a drop in the bucket compared to the typical ryes on the market (Beam, Rittenhouse BIB, Baby Saz (and even Handy which is generally under 7 years old and doesn't put an age on the bottle itself) and something most consumers will never see, much less buy.

I suppose High West has some higher aged source American rye but the 16 is now rare, the 21 isn't a straight rye and the blends like Rendezvous don't have an age statement on the bottle. A few higher age stated MGPI ryes have come out under the Old Scout line. I am sure I am missing some others but is there a major American made age stated rye at 7 or more years out there that is regularly available?

The notion that American whiskey does not have age statements is a certainly disingenuous but the current numbers are probably on his side (and improving...) as I suspect the majority of what is produced and sold is not age stated. The use of the word "traditionally" may be where he gets in trouble. Traditionally thay mave heve been age stated and now that trends is shifting. And of course many Master Distillers don't appear to think, based on comments on this board and elsewhere, that most whiskey is at its best beyond 10-12 years old and may be at its peak at 6 to 8 or 10 year range.

I believe that WhistlePig takes the rye that they get from Canada and runs it through some used bourbon barrels, presumably up on that buccolic farm in Vermont, for an unspecified time which is their gimmick to claim it is "American" whiskey.

He came off to me as a liar, or at the very best a deliberate obfuscator, rather than an idiot although he also comes off as an ultra scummy "used car salesman" in every negative connotation of that phrase.

Now the reporters, there's your idiots!

That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat like honey dew vine water and I took another slash…

Re: Whistlepig CEO is whiskey idiot and proves it

Originally Posted by tanstaafl2

I believe that WhistlePig takes the rye that they get from Canada and runs it through some used bourbon barrels, presumably up on that buccolic farm in Vermont, for an unspecified time which is their gimmick to claim it is "American" whiskey.

If they do as you described, the the product should be labeled 'Straight Rye finished in bourbon barrels'. To call it just Straight Rye, if it spent time in used bourbon barrels, is violation of labeling laws. Though I doubt anybody at the TTB gets it or cares.

Re: Whistlepig CEO is whiskey idiot and proves it

Originally Posted by wadewood

If they do as you described, the the product should be labeled 'Straight Rye finished in bourbon barrels'. To call it just Straight Rye, if it spent time in used bourbon barrels, is violation of labeling laws. Though I doubt anybody at the TTB gets it or cares.

Don't have the bottles in front of me but on the earlier 11yo/111pf and the "Boss Hog" that is exactly what it says on the label: "Finished in Bourbon Barrels".

Not sure about the original 10yo. I think they just bottled up what they got from their Canadian source for that one. And I think the bourbon barrel finish really improves the Boss Hog over the original 10yo. Haven't tried the 11/111 in a while.

Re: Whistlepig CEO is whiskey idiot and proves it

Yet the Canadian sourced original was aged in new charred, e.g., Bourbon barrels.

Since he was making crap up left and right maybe that was what he was trying to claim. But to me a new charred oak barrel isn't a bourbon barrel by default. At most it is a whiskey barrel.

But mostly a new oak barrel is a new oak barrel! For that matter, as discussed here in the past, straight whiskey, be it bourbon or rye, doesn't have to be aged in an oak "barrel", just an oak "container" according to the TTB. If you can build a box (or a polyhedral for that matter!) out of oak that won't leak like a sieve apparently that qualifies.

Based on the labels for the older WhistlePig 11 and Boss Hog somebody knows the difference since it is noted as being "finished in bourbon barrels". That says used oak barrels that had first aged bourbon to me. And since the original 10yo doesn't say that on the label my guess is it didn't spend time in used bourbon barrels. Or maybe the newer bottles of 10yo do say that but I haven't looked at them in a while. Or maybe they can legally use up leftover labels and don't have to change until they need more labels.

It is all speculation on my part and I certainly wouldn't take anything coming from WhistlePig at face value. Some NDPs you can trust, some not so much!

That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat like honey dew vine water and I took another slash…